Author: Albert Acosta

Headed out to the Gulf of Mexico to take advantage of a Weather Window.

This past weekend there was a window to head out to the Gulf of Mexico before a front moved down across Florida. We prepared all our tackle and got the boat ready. We were going to hit the Gulf and look for snapper, red grouper, sharks and Spanish mackerel. Good friend Mike and his son Nathan came aboard with myself and son Alexander. We headed out to the Gulf nice and early to get a jump on the fish before the winds picked up.

Searching for a Grouper in a sea of Snapper.

We headed to a spot and once we arrived we saw that the tide was still coming in. Once we anchored up we could see snapper swimming underneath us and quickly got our rods and baits ready. We were using live shrimp and pinfish. Snapper love shrimp and they love pinfish! The first few baits were hit and we landed several snapper and jacks but nothing big. We could see nice size snapper but they would not hit. I decided to put on a live pinfish on my medium rod/reel set up with 30lb Bullbuster Braid with a 3oz weight and 40lb Bullbuster fluorocarbon. I knew there was a grouper lurking around somewhere. It didn't take long before a viscous hit and run confirmed my suspicion. The live pinfish was swallowed violently and I fought desperately to keep the fish from getting into a hole or rock ledge. I could tell from the runs that it was a good fish and I was not going to loose that fish. After a great fight Mike grabbed the net and scooped up the nice red grouper.

Nice Fat Red Grouper

"I went to grab rod but could not take it out of the gunnel...this was a big shark a real big one."

We kept fishing and stopped by grass flat to restock our supply of pinfish. Beautiful, perfect bite size pinfish we caught one by one and put them in live well. But the bite died and we decided to try our luck with some shark fishing. We used one of the nice size jacks on the heavy duty set up the Penn International 16VS loaded with Bullbuster 100lb mono and steel leader. We set the bait out into the fast moving current and waited. After a while the rod bent and the drag was screaming for mercy! I went to grab rod but could not take it out of the gunnel...this was a big shark a real big one. After about a 150 yd run the hook was pulled free from the monster....we had lost him. We switched locations and put out a few more strips of jacks to see what was lurking. After a while the reels started screaming Mike was on and he was fighting a very mad shark. After a nice fight Mike landed a nice sharpnose shark. We sent out another bait and within a few minutes boom!!!...another hit. Mike's son Nathan was on to another shark. Nathan fought the shark and brought it boatside. It was Nathan's first shark and he was thrilled!

Nathan's First Shark

The day was coming to an end and the fishing was slow but we had a great time with the kids. We did have some action and Nathan got his first shark... I call that a great day.

Alexander Waiting for the Hits

Hope you enjoyed my fishing report and helps you catch more fish!

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